Thursday, August 29, 2013

Just a quick reminder, YOU are the POTUS who was going to bring our troops home. As sad as the situation is at our neighbor's house, we must protect our own family here at home. I am tired of losing mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, time, money and hope. I am becoming disillusioned.

Civility in America continues to disintegrate and rude discourse and behavior are becoming the “new normal.” Reports of personal infringements are on the rise, and while Americans continue to blame politicians as the leading source of our nation’s civility problems.

I have defended your inability to move the ball down the field because of the clear and unacceptable partisanship and gridlock caused by the owned and operated political whores in US Congress.

I have acknowledged that not everyone can have the networking charisma that many if not most great leaders (FDR, JFK, Reagan, Clinton) have. It is simply a personality trait not all of us possess.

I have understood this country's need for universal healthcare and had my own personal reasons to support this movement. I believe that people with pre-existing conditions should be afforded healthcare coverage -- I have a mother who has survived breast cancer twice; I have two stepdaughters who are still on our insurance plans; I could go on but that would be a bit too personal. You’ll just have to trust me.

I have understood that the voter ID laws put the poor and elderly in a predicament they have not seen in years and this change is rightly off putting to them. I do know it is less about correcting a problem of voter fraud, as that really does not exist; the outcry is more about creating a problem where there was not one. People do not take well to such things. I understand their cry.

I vehemently host a disdain for Citizens United, which has unleashed a Cancer upon this nation like none other -- LIKE NONE OTHER.

I have been supportive of your very correct thinking and acting on the issue of equal human rights for all human beings. I believe in freedom and I think that if not everyone is free, then no one is free in this great nation.

I stand by you in your support of women's rights in the arenas of choice and equal pay. Although I do not believe abortion should be used as a convenient form of birth control, I do believe it should be an available option. A woman’s mind, body, and soul should not be an issue of any political party platform. All too often, we find that church dictates make their way into our legislation because of the power and wealth of that lobby. In light of the concern regarding women’s rights – so long and hard fought for– may we be aware in our every word and every action, the importance of compassion, responsibility, and interfaith harmony. There was a very good reason our founding fathers ensured we host a wall of separation between church and state.

I give you credit and kudos where both are due in that you rid the world of Osama Bin Laden. In 2008, you stated, "We will kill bin Laden; we will crush Al Qaida. That has to be our biggest national security priority" and you did. For that, history, and I, will be forever grateful.

HOWEVER, on the issue of WAR – let me be quite clear...

I DO NOT SUPPORT ANY MEASURE THAT WOULD SEND ONE SINGLE US SAILOR OR SOLDIER INTO THE MOST HORRIFIC WAR-TORN AREA OF THIS WORLD.

After the longest wars in our history in Iraq and Afghanistan, Americans – yes, Republicans, Independents, and Democrats – all AMERICANS -- are sick over the 6,500+ dead and 40,000+ wounded, fed up with the $2 trillion+ in costs, and disillusioned with the results that a decade of sacrifice has produced.

Might I remind you a Harris Poll of the public in 2012 showed a majority of Americans think the forty-third president was the worst in post–World War II America. George W. Bush's response to 9/11, and in particular the two wars that the terrorist attacks spawned, were the centerpiece of the George W. Bush years. As his second term went by, and the enormity and gravity of his administration’s miscalculations and missteps became clear, the once popular president paid a price—just as his father had, for different reasons. Set against the miscalculations that had made the Iraq War a costly fiasco were the other post-9/11 Bush policies that had become increasingly controversial and unpopular.

Bush and his administration turned national security concerns into an obsession. Bush’s approval ratings went to a record low. They were only worsened by the failed response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the financial crisis that began as a recession in 2007 and quickly grew into the worst economic catastrophe since the Great Depression. By most measures— lack of job creation, rising unemployment, the exploding deficit, and the first deep cracks in the great housing downturn— eight years of Bush’s management of the economy were disastrous. As Bush was preparing to leave office and the contest between McCain and you took place, the American economy was approaching meltdown territory. Wall Street scandals, failing brokerages, international banking crises, and the bankruptcies of the major American automakers had the American economy on the brink of the worst scenario since the 1920s. McCain and you were put in the unusual position of sitting in as decisions about the economy were made, since one of you would inherit the economic catastrophe unraveling under Bush.

DO NOT SEND ANOTHER US SAILOR OR SOLDIER INTO A CERTAIN DEATH FOR AN UNCERTAIN GAIN.

History, and I, gave George W. Bush a grade of an "F."

Mr. Obama, with all due respect, if you send us into war in Syria, I will give you too a grade of an "F."

I have no more of me to give -- I am spent. If you declare war, you will no longer be worthy of my words or deeds. However, I will continue to give you my prayerful support as I would with any US President. I will continue to pray for peace in this great nation. God knows we need it.

Friday, August 9, 2013

Mike has taken the boys to see "Pacific Rim." I stayed home. I watched "Mud" on Vudu, sipped on some Malbec, and nibbled on leftovers.

The movie is now over and the screen has gone blank. It is pitch black in the room -- except for the glow of my MacBook screen. If I look to my left I can see the city lights and the ships' lights reflecting on the ocean. It is very quiet. We have a fan in the den and I can feel its cool breeze hit my face as it oscillates. It is very calming.

I don't know what I'll do next but the beauty in that is I need not do anything.

Night has fallen and my home is clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy. My boys are bonding and I am feeling blessed. Sometimes, in fact all too often, I sit and think -- and think, and think, and think.